Politics

“You’re Defending a Governor Who Built No School in 8 Years” — Wike’s Aide Fires Back at Dele Farotimi

Published by Tope Fakinlede on July 8th, 2025.

“You’re Defending a Governor Who Built No School in 8 Years” — Wike’s Aide Fires Back at Dele Farotimi

Peter Obi

Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication and Social Media to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, has responded sharply to activist and lawyer Dele Farotimi following a critical social media post attacking Wike’s political record.

On July 7, 2025, Farotimi described Wike as the “poster boy of Nigeria’s decaying leadership,” painting him as a symbol of everything wrong with the country’s ruling elite. He branded the former Rivers State governor with a string of harsh descriptors, calling him “narcissistic, gluttonous, short-sighted,” and more.

Olayinka didn’t hold back in his rebuttal, accusing Farotimi of abandoning reason for personal vendetta. Posting on X (formerly Twitter), Olayinka argued that Farotimi’s commentary lacked objectivity and was fueled by emotion rather than evidence. He accused the lawyer of aligning with what he termed a “confused coalition” with hidden political agendas.

He wrote: “When someone like Dele Farotimi, a so-called human rights and rice-and-beans activist, loses all sense of objectivity, he ends up supporting a man who governed for 8 years without building a single school—while attacking another who built a law school that many of this week’s law graduates passed through.”

This isn’t the first time Olayinka has come to Wike’s defense. In June 2025, he pushed back against Dele Momodu and other critics, accusing them of using past political struggles as cover for their personal ambitions.

The exchange is part of a broader war of words ahead of the 2027 elections, where voices from the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and allies of opposition figures like Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi are positioning themselves against President Bola Tinubu’s administration. Olayinka’s response reflects the Wike camp’s continued effort to discredit what it sees as politically motivated attacks dressed up as activism.